Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Konica Minolta, Inc.

Konica-minolta Holdings, Inc.

Shigeo Uetake

Toshiya Natsuhara

Junya Hirayama

Takeshi Maeyama

Makiko Watanabe

Masahiko Matsuura

Yuji Kamoda

Nofumi Mizumoto

Eiji Tabata

Keiko Momotani

Shigetaka Kurosu

Yuji Nagatomo

Atsuto Hirai

Tomohiko Masuda

Hirofumi Nakagawa

Ichiro Sawano

An image forming device includes: an endless intermediate transfer belt; and a secondary transferrer, wherein the secondary transferrer includes a secondary transfer roller and a counter roller, a value calculated from w/Vis defined as a nip time N [sec], when the secondary transferrer is deemed as an equivalent circuit including a resistance R1 [&#x3a9;&#xb7;m] of the secondary transfer roller, a resistance R2 [&#x3a9;&#xb7;m] of the intermediate transfer belt, a resistance R3 [&#x3a9;&#xb7;m] of the counter roller, and capacitance C[F/m] of a recording medium, in a case where a combined resistance in the equivalent circuit is defined as R[&#x3a9;&#xb7;m], and combined capacitance in the equivalent circuit is defined as C[F/m], a value calculated from R&#xd7;Cis defined as a time constant &#x3c4; [sec], and the image forming device further includes: a sheet detector; and a hardware processor.

Image forming device

An ink-jet recording apparatus includes a first electrification adjuster and a second electrification adjuster. The first electrification adjuster disposed to face the recording material to be conveyed supplies a charge with one polarity. The second electrification adjuster disposed downstream the first electrification adjuster in the conveying direction to face the recording material supplies the charge with opposite polarity to that of the charge supplied by the first electrification adjuster so that the ink-jet image is formed at the downstream side of the electrification adjuster.

Ink-jet recording apparatus

An electrification adjustment apparatus includes a first electrification adjuster facing the recording material conveyed for supplying charges each with one polarity, and a second electrification adjuster facing the recording material downstream of the first electrification adjuster in a conveying direction for supplying charges each with opposite polarity to that of the charge supplied by the first electrification adjuster. In the electrification adjustment apparatus, an electrostatic capacity between the recording material surface facing the second electrification adjuster, and an electrode partially or entirely formed from the conveyor member is smaller than the one between the recording material surface facing the first electrification adjuster and an electrode partially or entirely formed from the conveyor member. Either front or back surface of the recording material is in contact with the conveyor member in a region between the first and the second electrification adjusters.

Electrification adjustment apparatus and image forming apparatus

A transfer belt includes: an elastic layer, wherein the transfer belt is used to transfer a toner image onto a recording medium, the toner image being carried on a first main surface which is one of a pair of main exposed surfaces including the first main surface and a second main surface, when, using a lower block and an upper block, the transfer belt is placed on an upper surface of the lower block, a part of the transfer belt is interposed between a curved convex surface and a curved concave surface, and a pressed region reaches a pressing force of 200 [kPa] and is constantly pressed by the pressing force, if 'a' represents a maximum value of displacement of a measurement region, and 'b' represents displacement of the measurement region after convergence, E [&#x2212;] calculated by (a&#x2212;b)/b satisfies a condition of 0.2&#x2264;E&#x2264;3.

Transfer belt and image forming device

A transfer belt transfers a toner image carried on a first main surface to a recording medium. When the transfer belt is pressed by using a lower block provided with a hole and an upper block with pressurization force increased at a prescribed rate and thereafter kept constant, E [-] and t0 are curve-fitted to a function E=&#x3b1;&#xd7;exp(&#x2212;t0/&#x3c4;) defined by a time constant &#x3c4; [s] with respect to an amount of displacement of the transfer belt and a constant &#x3b1; [-], where E [-] is calculated as (a&#x2212;b)/b, a [&#x3bc;m] represents a maximum value of an amount of displacement of a measurement region, b [&#x3bc;m] represents an amount of displacement of the measurement region after converged, and t0 [s] represents a time period from start of pressurization until the maximum pressurization force, and time constant &#x3c4; satisfies a condition of 0.015&#x2264;&#x3c4;&#x2264;0.1.

Transfer belt and image formation apparatus

A transfer belt is configured to transfer a toner image carried on a first main surface of the transfer belt to a recording medium. When the transfer belt is pressed with pressure application three increased at a predetermined pressure application rate and is then pressed with certain pressure application force by using a lower block provided with a hole and an upper block, k[&#x3bc;m/s] satisfies 6&#x2264;k&#x2264;30, k[&#x3bc;m/s] being determined by (a&#x2212;b)/{2&#xd7;(t&#x2212;t)}, where a [&#x3bc;m/s] represents a maximum value of a displacement amount of a measurement region that is a portion of the first main surface corresponding to the hole, b [&#x3bc;m] represents a convergence value thereof, t[s] represents a time when the maximum value is observed, and t[s] represents a time when the displacement amount reaches (a+b)/2 again after the maximum value is observed.

Transfer belt and image forming apparatus

A fixing device includes: a non-contact heating portion that includes at least one non-contact heating unit which heats a toner image on a sheet; and a pressurizing and heating unit that is provided downstream in a sheet transport direction with respect to the non-contact heating portion and that pressurizes and heats the toner image. A time from a first point of time when the toner image reaches a toner melting temperature by heating of the non-contact heating portion to a second point of time when the toner image enters the pressurizing and heating unit is set equal to or more than a predetermined time. The predetermined time is a time when a ratio between the weight of the toner in the toner image before the entrance and the sum of the weight of the toner and the weight of the carrier liquid is equal to or more than 70%.

Fixing device

A wet-type image formation apparatus includes: an intermediate transfer body that carries a toner image including toner particles, which are charged to have a first polarity, and a carrier liquid; a transferring roller that transfers a toner image onto a transfer surface of a recording medium; a charging device that charges the transfer surface to have a second polarity opposite to the first polarity; and a fixing mechanism that fixes the toner image. The fixing mechanism includes a noncontact heating device. The noncontact heating device forms the toner particles into a film such that the toner particles and the carrier liquid are separated from each other by heating the toner image when the toner particles charged to the first polarity is electrostatically adsorbed onto the transfer surface charged to have the second polarity. The film of the toner particles is fixed onto the transfer surface.

Wet-type image formation apparatus and a charging device for charging a recording medium, and method

An image forming apparatus includes a noncontact heating device, a pressurizing and heating mechanism, and a control unit. The control unit switches an operation of the pressurizing and heating mechanism based on gloss level information of a recording medium. According to the image forming apparatus, assuming that a temperature of the recording medium after noncontact heating is T1, a temperature of the recording medium after pressurizing and heating is T2 and a toner concentration after noncontact heating is Tc1 when the gloss level information shows high gloss, and assuming that a temperature of the recording medium after noncontact heating is T3 and a toner concentration after noncontact heating is Tc2 when the gloss level information shows low gloss, the conditions of T1&#x3c;T2, T1&#x3c;T3, and Tc1&#x3c;Tc2 are satisfied.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method for forming an image on recording media with different gloss levels

An infiltration amount measuring unit is provided to measure the amount of carrier liquid infiltrated in recording paper. An output signal of the infiltration amount measuring unit is input to a control device to be used to calculate a voltage supplied to a heat source (heater) in a pre-fixing unit. A signal of a paper temperature measuring unit is input to the control device, which determines whether a target temperature is reached. The control device estimates the amount of carrier liquid in a toner layer based on the information from the infiltration amount measuring unit. Then, the pre-fixing unit is controlled such that the amount of carrier liquid in the toner layer falls within an appropriate range, based on the estimation result of the amount of carrier liquid.

Wet-type image forming apparatus with adjusting device to adjust amount of carrier liquid contained in toner image

An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device for heating and pressing a toner image on a recording medium, a non-contact heating device arranged downstream of the fixing device for heating the toner image without coming into contact with the toner image, and a pressure contact device arranged downstream of the non-contact heating device and having a smooth surface. The pressure contact device has first and second arrangement states switched according to the kind of the recording medium. In the first arrangement state, the pressure contact device is arranged so as to make pressure contact with the toner image. In the second arrangement state, the pressure contact device is arranged so as not to make pressure contact with the toner image.

Image forming apparatus controlling for glossiness

A development apparatus and an image forming apparatus wherein optical high-precision detection of the toner amount of a toner layer formed on a toner carrying member is ensured even when the great amount of the toner is deposited on the toner carrying member by transferring all or a part of the toner on the surface of the toner carrying member onto a detecting roller, and wherein stable images are provided at all times.

Development apparatus and image forming apparatus using the same

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium includes a fixing unit configured to fix on a recording medium, a toner image formed on the recording medium, through heating and pressurization and a gloss control unit configured to lower gloss of a surface of the toner image by charging the surface of the toner image fixed onto the recording medium and heating the toner image such that toner contained in the toner image reaches a softening point or higher thereof.

Image forming apparatus and gloss control method

A wet-type image forming apparatus includes: a heating unit configured to heat a recording medium and to volatilize liquid carrier in a toner image; a fixing unit configured to fix the toner image on the recording medium and disposed at a downstream side of the heating unit in a conveyance direction of the recording medium; a conveyance unit configured to convey the recording medium from the heating unit to the fixing unit; and a housing disposed to cover the conveyance unit, wherein the recording medium is conveyed on the conveyance unit in the housing toward the fixing unit after heated by the heating unit, in the presence of gas containing the volatilized liquid carrier, and the volatilized liquid carrier is cooled and turned into fine mist liquid carrier and then the fine mist liquid carrier attaches to the recording medium before the recording medium reaches the fixing unit.

Wet-type image forming apparatus

Provided is a deposited-toner measuring apparatus capable of accurate detection of the amount of toner deposited on the toner carrying member, and an image forming apparatus equipped with the aforementioned measuring apparatus and capable of controlling the amount of toner deposited on the toner carrying member to a desired level so as to provide stable image quality at all times. A deposited-toner measuring apparatus that removes a toner layer in a part of the surface of the toner carrying member, detects change in the capacitance at the portion with a toner layer and the portion without such a toner layer, and detects the amount of the deposited toner based on the detection result of the said change in the capacitance.

Deposited toner measuring apparatus having a capacitor and a capacitance change detector for detecting a change in capacitance of the capacitor, and an image formation apparatus, and method for controlling image formation apparatus related thereto

Growing community of inventors

Takatsuki, Japan

Shigeo Uetake